Google’s Ironic Ad Campaign and the Future of Traditional Media

“Page through a major newspaper (remember newspapers?) today
like the New York Times, and you’re likely to run into two enormous
ads, one by Google (almost two full pages) and one by AOL (a full
two pages). Leaving aside the irony of Google advertising in a form
of media that it has almost competed out of existence, there’s
something potentially transformative going on here that’s worth
exploring.

“What both companies are pushing is display advertising. Google,
because it wants to lessen its dependence on the increasingly
competitive search ad business, and AOL because AOL has been in
serious trouble since, well, forever. It’s probably also a clever
effort on AOL’s part to ride the coat tails of Google’s big
investment advertising – which also includes an enormous
electronic touch screen display in Times Square in New York.

“There is some substance to the effort in that what each company
is pushing is higher quality, more interesting, more diverse
display ads. The Google spread in the Times touts incorporating all
of the following into display ads: augmented reality, 3D gaming,
chat, interactive video, live streaming and more. The AOL ad spread
focuses instead on a cleaner, less cluttered overall page view,
with fewer, larger, less intrusive, and more interesting display
ads.

“So why would I call these campaigns potentially
transformative?”

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